Want to find out what people have found beneficial and any negatives. I am looking at it and I live in Hamilton and the tank will be inside. Also any companies that have been extremely helpful.
kaddiew,
Apr 22, 8:33pm
I inherited a 5 year old Beasley system (no longer made) when I bought the house 18 months ago, and so far it's cost me in excess of $1200 for a new pump, new solar tempering valve and rooftop pipe joint repair. And although I have more hot water than I could cope with in the summer, a few wet/cloudy days like now and the water is barely tepid, even in a one-person household. I'm going to have to turn the electric boost back on (I prefer to control it manually rather than have it on auto) probably for the next 5 months at least, which really irritates me. Some people claim to achieve almost year-round, solar-only hot water. I wish I did.
wilco65,
Apr 22, 8:47pm
We installed one 8 years ago and love it. Have had no maintenance issues. We have good levels of hot water for a 4-5 people through summer and on sunny winter days. In winter we have a wetback operating. We do get concerned if the power goes down and it's freezing outside as the pump needs to circulate the water to prevent it freezing in the pipes. We have a solar60 model I think. Oh, and we retrofitted it into a villa and the tank is a good distance from the panel and still in the original cupboard. We got it with the govt interest free loan deal that was running at the time and the repayments each month were roughly the same as the power bill saving. The loan was paid off after 3 years so in my view it had paid for itself in that time and since then has saved us money.
trade4us2,
Apr 22, 11:07pm
If the tank is higher than the heating panel, that is very simple and reliable and needs no pump. Our system cost almost nothing. Someone stole the copper cylinder from the roof so I have replaced it with a $20 200 litre cylinder off TradeMe.
lythande1,
Apr 23, 2:14am
There was an article in the Listener last week. Great if you're rich - or building. Takes a long, long time to make your money back and as kaddiew points out, living in a very sunny area will help. Otherwise it's a bit hit and miss.
kaddiew,
Apr 23, 3:04am
Aside from getting only about 4 months of the year on unboosted solar, now that I know how expensive repairs are when they fail (the cylinder has a 10 year warranty, but the pump that does all the work only 1 year),I would never pay big $$$ to install one, nor would I again buy a house with an existing one. All I need now is for a seagull to fly over and drop a shell onto the glass panels - as one cheerful plumber pointed out to me.
hilt_dwane,
Apr 23, 3:48am
We installed solar waterheating when we built 2 years ago in Tauranga. House is north facing. Tank is inside and is a 300 litre - very tall and slim. Dealt with Howard at Creative Heating in Tauranga. He sure knows his stuff
twink19,
Apr 23, 5:08am
the new ones are better, dont need to move cylinder, they are tubes, not flat panels. was going to put one in but havnt got around to yet, cost was about $5000.00
trade4us2,
Apr 24, 9:03am
At $5000 it will never pay for itself. It would be cheaper to just pay for the power to an electric hot water cylinder.
kmole,
Apr 25, 6:42am
We installed it in Cambridge about 4 years ago. Never turned my hot water cylinder on since then, but I have a wetback and free firewood.I used a local plumber to install it but got all the info and equipment from solar-one on here. Just going to see if I can find his listings for you.He has been in the business a long time and I found him excellent before, during and after sales service!
kmole,
Apr 25, 6:49am
It looks like the business may have changed hands now!We dealt with Ingolf from solar one and cylindersonline as they traded on here.
les6,
Apr 25, 8:12am
try wunderbar2!
kmole,
May 17, 11:44pm
Yes, wunderbar2.
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